η μαγδαληνη

What does this Greek text mean?

The oldest Gospel manuscripts available to us are written in Greek. Mary Magdalene's name appears in these texts as "μαριαμ η μαγδαληνη", or transliterated, "mariam h magdalhnh." In English, we know this as Mary the Magdalene.

On Magdalene.org's front page, we've chosen to render only the epithet in Greek, since it represents a puzzling question. Does it indicate her place of origin, a town called Magdala? Was it a nickname? The standard belief is that it refers to a place called Magdala, making the name mean "woman from Magdala," but the truth is that we simply do not know exactly why Mary was known by this name. Like so many other things about her, it remains a provocative mystery.

For more information, please see the question "What does the name 'Magdalene' mean?" in our Frequently Asked Questions.